Mayor de Blasio called on police officers to stop ignoring Health Department guidelines to wear a face covering when out in public.
“I know you have a hard job, but, you know — do unto others,” he said while addressing cops during a Sunday press conference. “If we’re asking everyone else to follow the rules, social distancing, wear a face covering for the protection of all, you should do it, too.”
The exhortation came after many police officers went maskless at protests in which they came into close contact with thousands of protesters all over the city in recent days.
“It’s just a human decency thing, and I’ve had this conversation with [Police Commissioner Dermot Shea] and I expect to see improvement in this area,” de Blasio said.
The city’s biggest police unions, the Police Benevolent Association and the Sergeants’ Benevolent Association, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sunday’s request from the mayor came after access to face masks became a heated point of contention between Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot and Chief of Detectives Terence Monahan.
Barbot, furious that NYPD cops showed up in a truck on March 18 at a FEMA warehouse to commandeer half a million masks meant for hospital workers, told Monahan in a contentious phone call that she didn’t give “two rats’ asses” about the cops, according to sources.
She later apologized for the comment.
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